V-280 & other current (non V-22) Tilt Rotor Aircraft

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Okay, let's play.
"That most American of games, ketchup."

Is the US Army biting off more than it can chew? We ask its future vertical lift modernization boss
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Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen said:
We’ve learned from the Comanche program, that we have to put it in a competitive environment and we have to prototype early and often. And then we have to pick our requirements and stick to our requirements.
The story is more of a what the Army feels about the programs and where it stands.

I really question the Valor as the Army, Marines vertical lift platform, I know the Marines LOVE the Osprey, but I still think a troop helicopter for rapid insertions, still needs the Defiant's terminal maneuverability.....
Time for the specs.
I could read them all out but that's done.
Here
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And here.
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In summery,
Breaking Defense said:
To ensure its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft can survive a war with Russia or China, the Army wants radically superior speed and range compared to current helicopters.
No surprise so far. They want it to cost about $43 Million a unit.
Breaking Defense said:
But a joint Request For Information released yesterday shows that the tech-savvy Special Operations Command and the hard-charging Marine Corps want even more.
And a Gunship to boot

The Army wants FARA aka FVL capabilities set 1, the Marines was FVL capabilities set 2 their gunship and the Army is lead on FVL capabilities set 3 FLRAA.
This is the known portions but the Marines and Socom then get to tailor FLRAA to their needs. That said they may reign themselves in if what they want is too extreme.

First up Cruise Speed.
The Army threshold ( read that as minimum to meet ) is 250Kt with an Objective ( what they want ) of 280Kt. This is At full power.
The Marines threshold is 275Kt with 290Kt Objective at 90% power. That's a monster jump in power.
Then Range
The Army range unrefueled range threshold is 200 nautical miles. With Objective of 300. The Marines threshold 365 Nautical miles with a 450 nautical miles objective.
The Marines though trade off 2 passagers for a crew of 4+8 well the Army and Socom get a full load of 4+12 passangers. Oh and the Marines want a gun on their transport as well as Air to air refuelling probe. And a larger cargo payload.
Socom and the Army want their versions to mount a probe as needed.

Socom's only hard is that they want it to fold for flight in a C17. Which lines up for the Marines/Navy who want it to fold for storage in ships.

Being honest the Marines requirements pretty much killed Defiant. These were tailored to make V280 The Threshold.
Even then Bell's Valor is going to be hard pressed to meet Thresholds of speed. The Army will be ordering in the Thousands the Marines about 350 of transport and Attacker. But these hard specs drive for Bell. Where the Army had wiggle room for Boeing, the Marines are tossing them over the clif at birth.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
noted
Bell V-280 flies with system that can see through aircraft
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6 infared cameras are located in the fuselage these produce a all axis 360* view that is processed and displayed on the pilots helmet visor. The helmet is tracked inside the aircraft cockpit so the pilot sees "through" the aircraft.
This is similar to the DAS of F35 although simplified as there is no need to make it absolutely intigrated into the aircraft.

Yes @Jura I am reposting but because this has nothing to do with FVL requirements as yet but is Valor specific
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
I have had to change my mind on this bird once already.
I originally said Sikorsky was the winner for light and medium.
For Light I still favor Raider. For attack i prefer the Boeing Sikorsky concept.

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For assault I am V280.
It has the range, the speed and lift.
 

anzha

Senior Member
Registered Member
A single masted contra rotating main rotor has at least twice to three time the responsiveness, as it pivots around one mast instead of two masts, that's a real pooch! it really is, and very ungainly, there is a LOT of SLOP in those maneuvers, it is NOT crisp and sharp....

Well, they match the Blackhawk now and, if Jane's is to be believed, have completed the tasks set out to demo on the Joint Multirole program.

Assuming BoSik can get everything working - they still haven't! - then it will almost assuredly be better at maneuvering.

But as stated in the articles out today, there's more than spinning on a dime required and the what the Defiant is good at, the Valor isn't and what the Defiant is not, the Valor is.

The Valor deriv will meet the Army, SOF and Marine requirements. The Defiant deriv will meet the Army and SOF, but definitely not the marines.

Personally, I think the Raider/Defiant will grab the FARA and Valor will grab the FLRAA programs.
 

anzha

Senior Member
Registered Member
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